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Neuroprotective effects of electroacupuncture on early- and late-stage spinal cord injury

Previous studies have shown that the neurite growth inhibitor Nogo-A can cause secondary neural damage by activating RhoA. In the present study, we hypothesized that electroacupuncture promotes neurological functional recovery after spinal cord injury by inhibiting RhoA expression. We established a...

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Autores principales: Wu, Min-fei, Zhang, Shu-quan, Liu, Jia-bei, Li, Ye, Zhu, Qing-san, Gu, Rui
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4660757/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26692861
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/1673-5374.167762
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author Wu, Min-fei
Zhang, Shu-quan
Liu, Jia-bei
Li, Ye
Zhu, Qing-san
Gu, Rui
author_facet Wu, Min-fei
Zhang, Shu-quan
Liu, Jia-bei
Li, Ye
Zhu, Qing-san
Gu, Rui
author_sort Wu, Min-fei
collection PubMed
description Previous studies have shown that the neurite growth inhibitor Nogo-A can cause secondary neural damage by activating RhoA. In the present study, we hypothesized that electroacupuncture promotes neurological functional recovery after spinal cord injury by inhibiting RhoA expression. We established a rat model of acute spinal cord injury using a modification of Allen's method. The rats were given electroacupuncture treatment at Dazhui (Du14), Mingmen (Du4), Sanyinjiao (SP6), Huantiao (GB30), Zusanli (ST36) and Kunlun (BL60) acupoints with a sparse-dense wave at a frequency of 4 Hz for 30 minutes, once a day, for a total of 7 days. Seven days after injury, the Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor scale and inclined plane test scores were significantly increased, the number of apoptotic cells in the spinal cord tissue was significantly reduced, and RhoA and Nogo-A mRNA and protein expression levels were decreased in rats given electroacupuncture compared with rats not given electroacupuncture. Four weeks after injury, pathological tissue damage in the spinal cord at the site of injury was alleviated, the numbers of glial fibrillary acidic protein- and neurofilament 200-positive fibers were increased, the latencies of somatosensory-evoked and motor-evoked potentials were shortened, and their amplitudes were increased in rats given electroacupuncture. These findings suggest that electroacupuncture treatment reduces neuronal apoptosis and decreases RhoA and Nogo-A mRNA and protein expression at the site of spinal cord injury, thereby promoting tissue repair and neurological functional recovery.
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spelling pubmed-46607572015-12-11 Neuroprotective effects of electroacupuncture on early- and late-stage spinal cord injury Wu, Min-fei Zhang, Shu-quan Liu, Jia-bei Li, Ye Zhu, Qing-san Gu, Rui Neural Regen Res Research Article Previous studies have shown that the neurite growth inhibitor Nogo-A can cause secondary neural damage by activating RhoA. In the present study, we hypothesized that electroacupuncture promotes neurological functional recovery after spinal cord injury by inhibiting RhoA expression. We established a rat model of acute spinal cord injury using a modification of Allen's method. The rats were given electroacupuncture treatment at Dazhui (Du14), Mingmen (Du4), Sanyinjiao (SP6), Huantiao (GB30), Zusanli (ST36) and Kunlun (BL60) acupoints with a sparse-dense wave at a frequency of 4 Hz for 30 minutes, once a day, for a total of 7 days. Seven days after injury, the Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor scale and inclined plane test scores were significantly increased, the number of apoptotic cells in the spinal cord tissue was significantly reduced, and RhoA and Nogo-A mRNA and protein expression levels were decreased in rats given electroacupuncture compared with rats not given electroacupuncture. Four weeks after injury, pathological tissue damage in the spinal cord at the site of injury was alleviated, the numbers of glial fibrillary acidic protein- and neurofilament 200-positive fibers were increased, the latencies of somatosensory-evoked and motor-evoked potentials were shortened, and their amplitudes were increased in rats given electroacupuncture. These findings suggest that electroacupuncture treatment reduces neuronal apoptosis and decreases RhoA and Nogo-A mRNA and protein expression at the site of spinal cord injury, thereby promoting tissue repair and neurological functional recovery. Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd 2015-10 /pmc/articles/PMC4660757/ /pubmed/26692861 http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/1673-5374.167762 Text en Copyright: © Neural Regeneration Research http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
spellingShingle Research Article
Wu, Min-fei
Zhang, Shu-quan
Liu, Jia-bei
Li, Ye
Zhu, Qing-san
Gu, Rui
Neuroprotective effects of electroacupuncture on early- and late-stage spinal cord injury
title Neuroprotective effects of electroacupuncture on early- and late-stage spinal cord injury
title_full Neuroprotective effects of electroacupuncture on early- and late-stage spinal cord injury
title_fullStr Neuroprotective effects of electroacupuncture on early- and late-stage spinal cord injury
title_full_unstemmed Neuroprotective effects of electroacupuncture on early- and late-stage spinal cord injury
title_short Neuroprotective effects of electroacupuncture on early- and late-stage spinal cord injury
title_sort neuroprotective effects of electroacupuncture on early- and late-stage spinal cord injury
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4660757/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26692861
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/1673-5374.167762
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